Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
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Sudanese army accuses Libya’s Haftar forces of border attack

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The Sudanese army accused forces under eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar of attacking border posts on Tuesday, the first time it has accused its northwestern neighbour of direct involvement in the country’s two-year war.

The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, whom the military also accused of involvement in the border attack, has drawn in multiple foreign countries, while international attempts at bringing about peace have so far failed.

Sudan had early in the war accused eastern Libya’s Haftar of supporting the RSF via weapons deliveries. It has long accused Haftar’s ally the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF as well, including via direct drone strikes last month. The UAE denies those allegations.

Haftar forces denied involvement in the attack and accused a force affiliated with the Sudanese armed forces of attacking a military patrol while it was carrying out “its legitimate duty to secure the Libyan side of the border.”

“These allegations are a blatant attempt to export Sudan’s internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy,” the General Command of the National Libyan Army added in a statement.

Egypt, which has also backed Haftar, has long supported the Sudanese army.

In a statement, the Sudanese army said the attack took place in the Libya-Egypt-Sudan border triangle, an area to the north of one of the war’s main front lines, al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur.

“We will defend our country and our national sovereignty, and will prevail, regardless of the extent of the conspiracy and aggression supported by the United Arab Emirates and its militias in the region,” the Sudanese army said in a statement.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/GuqSJYO

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